Reviewing DCC Funnels
My favorites of the Dungeon Crawl Classics funnel adventures I have run.
The Dungeon Crawl Classics RPG has four primary strengths: fun rules that reflect common tropes from fantasy literature more closely than other games, the many well-designed and imaginative modules, evocative and entertaining cartography, and making the funnel the default way adventurers begin their careers.
In a funnel adventure, each player begins with about four randomly generated level 0 peasant farmers, cooks, scribes, and others who are utterly unprepared for the otherworldly perils they will face. Armed with little more than pitchforks and rolling pins, these nobodies are thrust into otherworldly situations of incredible peril, that in other games would be reserved for high level adventures. Those who survive this first adventure advance to level 1 and acquire a class. Players test their wits, imagination and luck!
Here I briefly review and then rank the funnels I have run so far. Every one was fun for the group playing and is suitable for a wonderful one-shot or start to a campaign! While I avoid real spoilers, this is aimed mostly at judges (game masters) deciding on what to run next.
DCC 67: Sailors on the Starless Sea
by Harley Stroh
The first and probably the most widely-played funnel published for DCC has a lot going on. After reading forum posts describing Sailors of the Starless Sea as a DCC rite of passage, it became the first DCC game I ran (which was in 2021). My favorite part is the above ground section, in part due to the greater open-endedness and variety here. Each group is likely to interact with different areas. The later part is a bit of a railroad. About 4-5 hours.
DCC 79: Frozen in Time
by Michael Curtis
A wonderful science fantasy adventure with many tropes deployed to great effect. Frozen in Time may have not been written as a funnel. It can be run as an adventure for 1st level or 0th level characters. It gives players many buttons to push, each with big consequences. Discovering how the strange technologies work is fun. The module has more areas than other modules this list. This is the module I most look forward to running again in anticipation of seeing players’ reactions. The Forlorn North setting added as an appendix to a later printing also intrigues me. Playtime is about 2 sessions or 5-8 hours.
DCC 86: Hole in the Sky
by Brendan LeSalle
Every part of this adventure is memorable. While in many ways a railroad, players have agency in how they approach most situations in this larger-than-life memorable adventure. The situations are unusual enough that players need to think through them and get creative. The only reason I don’t rank it higher is because player agency is limited to how they solve problems, not in choosing what to interact with. I have run Hole in the Sky three times for good reason, although part of it is that I enjoy doing the Lady in Blue’s many voices and I know I can finish it in most RPG time slots. And the Wheel of Fate gives players a little more agency in determining which characters survived, especially useful if its the first session of a campaign. About 3.5 to 4 hours.
DCC Core Book: Portal Under the Stars
by Joseph Goodman
We enjoyed it, but compared to other modules on this list I found it a little underwhelming. I can imagine interweaving it with a bigger campaign, tying a couple of the chambers in with important entities and places of the campaign and allowing players to reenter the portal in order to make use of one of the chambers. Better than the average module for the broader D&D family of games. Its low rank here is a testament to the overall high quality of Goodman Games’ DCC modules. It’s also found in the free DCC Quick Start Rules. About 3 to 4 hours.
DCC Horror 5: Creep, Skrag, Creep!
by Stephen Newton
I think its a coincidence that this nautical horror adventure is both the deadliest funnel I’ve run and also my favorite funnel that can easily be run in a single session (Frozen in Time can be run as a funnel but is a bit too long to be completed in a single 3 to 4 hour session, the usual length for my sessions), but I’m not sure that its entirely a coincidence. Every decision the players’ make counts. The clues to what is going on in Creep, Skrag, Creep! feel like significant rewards for the risks taken to acquire them. A ship makes a great dynamic and claustrophobic environment. Players know they can swing from the rigging and they enjoy piecing together the ship’s layout based on their intuitive understanding. About 4 hours.
Free RPG Day 2022: Danger in the Air!
by Michael Curtis
A bizarre opening leads to an excellent one session funnel, with so much for players to interact with throughout. Each science fantasy situation is weird in a new way. It reminds me of what Gus L calls jewelbox adventure design due to the high density of interactive elements and details that draw on less familiar inspirations. Danger in the Air! is on my short list to run again with different players. About 3-4 hours.
My Rankings
In sum my rankings of the DCC funnels I have run so far:
Frozen in Time
Creep, Skrag, Creep!
Danger in the Air!
Sailors on the Starless Sea
Hole in the Sky
Portal Under the Stars
If I have a single session such as a 4 hour convention time slot or a pickup game, my top picks are Creep, Skrag, Creep! and Danger in the Air! But I would choose Danger over Creep if the players have never played DCC or deadly OSR games before or if they aren’t interested in horror.
Once your players complete their first funnel and one or more of their characters survives to reach level 1, they can begin to play with many more of the innovative rules of DCC like the spellcasting systems, mighty deeds of arms, and more!
I can’t wait to run more funnels and even play in one! When I run more, I will update this page. Do you recommend any others?
My son and I are returning to DCC after a hiatus. We've played Portal and Sailors and I am looking for a new funnel. This article is exactly what I was looking for. Thanks Brian!